Category: landscape

So I’m really mixing things up for you folks! Trying to keep it interesting, for you and also for myself. I love painting animals and people, I’ve always said my favorite things to paint are things with eyes…”the windows to the soul”, and usually that is where I’m really satisfied.

BUT…

A few years ago I went to Europe. It was the trip of a lifetime. I took so many pictures of the amazing countryside, and I told myself that I would paint them. And those pictures sit in my reference folder, taunting me every time I’m looking for subject matter.

This particular photo is of a winery and its vineyard in the Chianti region of Tuscany where I went on a wine tasting tour. What a blast that was, and another story entirely, lol!!

I’ve been very busy lately, painting, but not posting. I’ve secured a studio/gallery space at the local hotel and restaurant, and I’ve been going “to work” every day until my kids finish school. It’s been great fun, meeting and talking to adults for a change:) And I’ve been keeping up the ebay cards, too, to pay for paint, haha!

I didn’t bother to do a work in progress for this one, it would have been too tedious, lol!

It ended up being tighter than I wanted–haha, the story of my life! But, I’m still happy with it.

This is a 40+ year old pole on the Bella Coola Townsite. The building is now a youth center, but is scheduled to be torn down soon. It is unsafe, and the pole is rotted through at the base. I’m glad that I was able to paint it before it disappeared, as do so many old landmarks around here. The pole is a replica of one of the original poles on a chief’s house of the original native village that was here before “white man” came. I think it’s beautiful, and an important part of our heritage. I hope they can salvage at least the upper part and display it somewhere after the building is torn down.

I finally finished another travel journal page. They might be coming a little slower these days. I’m super busy with a lot of other things, but I’m determined:) This was just a sweet scene that I captured when I found the park. It was such a beautiful place, a veritable oasis in the middle of a bustling city. There weren’t that many people, and the ones that were there were really just enjoying the day. I wish I could go back and sit by the water.

I was so excited to see Stonehenge, finally. I’ve always felt drawn to all things pre-historic and ancient, and Stonehenge was no exception. I stayed in Bath, England, a beautiful city about an hour or so drive away. Bath is gorgeous and old in itself. It was founded by the Romans and was called Aque Sulis. The original Roman Baths are still there and are a popular tourist attraction. The buildings are all white stone, many of them 18th century.

Anyways, back to the point…I made sure I booked a tour on a small bus, (Mad Max’s tours, with a great, funny and charming guide) there were only eight of us, and the bus left really early. We ended up being the first group to arrive at Stonehenge, before the swarms of people that were usually there. I raced off the bus, pushed my way to the front of my fellow travellers, and managed to snap a few pictures with absolutely no people in them! Yay! Unfortunately, they have built a freeway right next to this amazing monument, and it’s not possible to feel how it might have been to experience this in peace and quiet without a million swarming people, but it still holds some energy. At least I was in awe.

Well, I just finished writing this whole post a few minutes ago, and somehow deleted it! Now I have to start again…DAMN! Sometimes I hate computers!Anyways, I want to thank the wonderful girls who left me some great feedback. I took your advice and now I have a painting that I’m pretty happy with!I lengthened the mane and tail, and made them fly out, adding to the sense of movement. I definitely feel like this makes it far less static. I spaced out the back legs slightly, defined them, and added a longer shadow. This, along with the longer tail, balances the painting out and makes the horse more grounded. I took away most of the dust behind the horse, and added some color to the dust in front. I defined some of the background shadows, and values, and evened out the color in the mountains.All in all, I feel pretty happy with it now. Of course, there’s still things I don’t really like, but don’t know how to change, or if they need it. Artists are their own worst critics! But, if anyone sees something that still might need help, let me know. I, unlike most, love constructive criticism!

This one was really a challenge. I’m new to painting water. The painting “Beach Baby” was my first real attempt. It turned out well, and so did “Our Own Island”, so I thought I’d try this one. It’s from a photo that my very talented sister, Karie Goffic, took. You can check out her incredible photography at www.ArtWanted.com/Karie. I’m pretty happy with the results. The hardest part for me was to get the big spray to look convincing. There are sure a lot of variations of light and shadow and color in something that most people would consider just white!

This is my latest “painting a day”. I took my kids for a walk in the stroller the other day, in the rain. This is one of the places on our walk. It is listed as a Heritage Site in Bella Coola, being one of the oldest existing farms from the old Norweigan settlers that first came to Bella Coola. The sky was really neat. Heavily overcast on one side, with the sun trying to peek through on the other. I thought I’d try to capture it, so here it is.

So, I had a nice visit to Quesnel. I took lots of pictures of the incredible fall foliage, and this was one of them. I’m pretty pleased with how it turned out. It’s called “October.” I’ll be listing this one on ebay soon, so be sure to check out my auction.

I’m still not getting much sleep, trying to recover from the flu. I really want to paint more, but it’s just not happening.

After a tumultuous past as a goat milker, laundress, fine art major, waitress and restaurant owner, I've now downscaled to running my own Cafe/Gallery in an effort to maintain a social life and make a few bucks. I live a ridiculously idyllic existence in a fairytale village called Bella Coola on the West Coast of British Columbia with my charming musician husband, two amazingly creative children, and a dog whose favourite past time is eating rotten dead fish and rolling in poo.
In my not so spare time I love to invent healthy whole food recipes, write YA fiction, play guitar, or curl up in my favourite chair with a great book and a gigantic mug of strong black coffee, all while daydreaming of living in Ireland...